There is alot of talk now that Pharmacy has become saturated with too many pharmacists and of course the new schools of pharmacy churning out more graduated. It is becoming acknowledged that the situation is getting abit poor now in terrms of job prospects?

Sure pharmacy schools and their glossy brochures will make it seem like pharmacists will always be required with an ageing population and new roles. Well that is not happening, new roles are nowhere near and locums are joining full time work as even the locum market is getting saturated.

It is a tough 4 year degree worth alot of money (particularly for the new schools of pharmacy and the business like approach of selling the degree to students without telling them that the job market for pharmacists will not be what it used to be).

No job after uni is guaranteed. If you want to do it, go for it - but dont do any degree thinking you can get a guaranteed job straight afterwards because thats the case in the economy just now. The market may change in four years, I know that first hand - everything was hunky dory when i started uni and then BOOM credit crunch! Suddenly no jobs and no job prospects :~P

You've got to just go do something you'll enjoy, or you'll regret it later - job or no job.

Im talking about pharmacy specifically not other degrees. I get the whole no degree guarantees jobs thing but you can bet your bottom dollar many choose pharmacy as it supposed to have a good rate of students finding jobs.

(Original post by college80)
Im talking about pharmacy specifically not other degrees. I get the whole no degree guarantees jobs thing but you can bet your bottom dollar many choose pharmacy as it supposed to have a good rate of students finding jobs.

The graduate employment rates speaks for itself and my relatives encountered the same experiences. A pharmacist can work in the private sector or public sector (NHS) and many degrees do not offer this opportunity.

(Original post by college80)
Im talking about pharmacy specifically not other degrees. I get the whole no degree guarantees jobs thing but you can bet your bottom dollar many choose pharmacy as it supposed to have a good rate of students finding jobs.

Sorry but this is just stupid, you do a degree if you like it. Your aim should always be high....not just scraping the barrel to get a decent paying job.

You have to be motivated to get a job, degree is something you want to study because you like it.

(Original post by Doctor.)
Sorry but this is just stupid, you do a degree if you like it. Your aim should always be high....not just scraping the barrel to get a decent paying job.

You have to be motivated to get a job, degree is something you want to study because you like it.

No jobs are thrown at you.

It's not stupid. I can see from your name that pharmacy's not your ideal career but describing it as 'scraping the barrel' and not aiming high is really insulting.

Obviously no degree guarantees a job but it is true that pharmacy graduates have pretty much walked into them in the past. The situation isn't great at the moment although that goes for most jobs. I think the OP has a valid point though, why would anyone study a 4 year degree and get into more debt if their job prospects aren't any better than someone with a 3 year BSc? Apparently there are newly-qualified pharmacists in Ireland working for free or as dispensers because there just aren't any jobs.

People will study pharmacy if they really want to though. It still gives you more options than a general science degree.

(Original post by New...Romantic)
It's not stupid. I can see from your name that pharmacy's not your ideal career but describing it as 'scraping the barrel' and not aiming high is really insulting.

Obviously no degree guarantees a job but it is true that pharmacy graduates have pretty much walked into them in the past. The situation isn't great at the moment although that goes for most jobs. I think the OP has a valid point though, why would anyone study a 4 year degree and get into more debt if their job prospects aren't any better than someone with a 3 year BSc? Apparently there are newly-qualified pharmacists in Ireland working for free or as dispensers because there just aren't any jobs.

People will study pharmacy if they really want to though. It still gives you more options than a general science degree.

Even for Medicine there is a struggle to get F1 Places. Unemployment is a rarity in medicine but it is on the rise, slowly. Pharmacy is exactly the same, if you're aiming just get stroll by university and get into a cushy job it's not going to happen.

Maybe because you enjoy the course? Not everything in life is about making money, there is more to it than that.

(Original post by Doctor.)
Even for Medicine there is a struggle to get F1 Places. Unemployment is a rarity in medicine but it is on the rise, slowly. Pharmacy is exactly the same, if you're aiming just get stroll by university and get into a cushy job it's not going to happen.

Maybe because you enjoy the course? Not everything in life is about making money, there is more to it than that.

It's not about individuals working hard and getting good jobs due to their own hard work though. With more graduates and more qualified pharmacists comes more supply, reducing demand and probably reducing wages. Along with that, multiples are expecting more services and higher targets to be met without providing more staff.

As for your second point, err yes, see the last two sentences of my previous post. Rolling your eyes? You're a charmer.

(Original post by New...Romantic)
It's not about individuals working hard and getting good jobs due to their own hard work though. With more graduates and more qualified pharmacists comes more supply, reducing demand and probably reducing wages. Along with that, multiples are expecting more services and higher targets to be met without providing more staff.

As for your second point, err yes, see the last two sentences of my previous post. Rolling your eyes? You're a charmer.

Fair enough, and hence the +1 .

Although I think the universities are getting a little bit more strict. I've had to go to interviews etc, last year it was unheard of lol.

Yeah, but places abroad are still desperate for pharmacists. If I can't get a job in the UK after I graduate, screw that, I'll go to New Zealand. Besides, I want to study pharmacy because the course looks fun, and I like chemistry and biology. Even if the job prospects are becoming worse, they're still better than they are for other courses, thank goodness.

My partner is just finishing his pre-registration year doing pharmacy, and the hospital he wants to stay at has 8 posts going... yes its possibly less than other years, but there is still lots of pharmacy jobs out there, you just have to prove you are good enough to be hired!

(Original post by jelly_01)
erm i dont think any university had ccc or ccd for such difficult degrees.. more like bbb

My uncle said that when medicine wasnt anything special it was not hard to get into a medical school. It's mainly down to the inflated number of people applying, so they're using grades as a determining factor.

He also said, any science degree is just as hard as Medicine...
It is just that medicine is harder to get into.

(Original post by Doctor.)
My uncle said that when medicine wasnt anything special it was not hard to get into a medical school. It's mainly down to the inflated number of people applying, so they're using grades as a determining factor.

He also said, any science degree is just as hard as Medicine...
It is just that medicine is harder to get into.

(Original post by Doctor.)
My uncle said that when medicine wasnt anything special it was not hard to get into a medical school. It's mainly down to the inflated number of people applying, so they're using grades as a determining factor.

He also said, any science degree is just as hard as Medicine...
It is just that medicine is harder to get into.

that depends how you define "hard". Medicine does have substantially more lectures and more material to learn than your average science degree (you're practically 9-5 everyday whereas science degrees are not. they also don't have reading weeks and their academic year is around 11 months long compared to 8/9 in the average bsc. So in that sense it is more difficult to keep on top of the material.